8th Annual Nashville Nationals

Take a good long look at the smile plastered on Chris "Smiley" Harvey's face in our lead photo. You think you've got problems—this guy works third shift in a nuclear powerplant all week keeping millions of dollars worth of dangerous equipment running like clockwork. Yet he's having the time of his life with a jalopy of a '64 Chevy Biscayne wagon he dragged out of a barn and paid $350 for. You'd never know the weight sitting on Smiley's shoulders most days, especially when he's behind the wheel of his Chevy mowing down cones at the Goodguys Street Machine Autocross, but that's the effect autocrossing has on most folks.

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association realized a long time ago that something was missing from the static car show hobby—action. Once they figured out that autocrossing could provide a safe and fun way to exploit all the handling and horsepower—with timing equipment, trophies, spectators, and bragging rights no less—Goodguys shows would never be the same. Now all that muscle coming through the gate could be put to good use, without the cops getting involved.

2/18

Nevertheless, some old fuddy-duddies won't go near the cone course. Might scratch the paint. Might break. Yes—it might very well do those things, but at the end of your days when you're wondering what you did with all your time and money, you'll wish at one point you had a big ol' grin on your face like Chris "Smiley" Harvey. For real, what in the hell are you saving it for? You can't take it with you. As they say, "Ain't nothin' to it but to do it."

Those who harbor a lame excuse for not getting out there and carving up some tarmac should check this out: When Smilie found this '64 Chevy wagon sitting in a shed in 2007, it only needed a water pump to get running. "When I pulled it out, I washed it off, and that's the way it's looked ever since," he says. Over time, the stock 283 and three-speed manual have been replaced with a 350 Vortec out of a 1997 Chevy pickup, and the three-on-the-tree manual was swapped for a 700-R4 four-speed automatic. Some $650 Boss 338 wheels and tires off of eBay, along with a Right Stuff disc brake kit, and it was ready to roll. "It's just an everyday car more or less," Smiley says.

3/18

Smiley and his Biscayne more-door dispels another myth: You don't need a first-gen Camaro hosed down with a mail-order catalog in order to get your feet wet, although that certainly is one well-documented route we wouldn't argue with. At Nashville, we saw a lot of guys and gals like Smiley who were wheeling their stock and near-stock classic machinery around the course—and they were having the time of their lives. Want to get involved? Log on to www.Good-Guys.com today to find a Goodguys Street Machine autocross near you.

4/18Jesse Greening built this 1969 Plymouth Valiant for customer Don Montgomery, and it had us foaming at the mouth. Greening left the Valiant’s perfect green survivor patina untouched, and built a masterpiece around it, even color-matching the surface rust spots for the bumpers, trim, and wheels. Stay tuned for more details on this “Pissed Off” one!

14/18In an alternate universe, Ralph Nader is arrested as a serial killer, the Corvair never dies, the Camaro never gets penned, and instead of reading Camaro magazines, we now read Corvair Performers magazine, with Kevin Poe’s 1965 Corvair on the cover. This one sports a 164ci air-cooled boxer with four 1 BBL Rochester carbs and a Howard cam.

GOODGUYS NASHVILLE

Street Machine Autocross Results

Tom McBride

'67

Chevy

Camaro

36.706

Tom Farrington

'66

Chevy

Chevelle

37.456

Larry Woo

'68

Chevy

Camaro

37.607

Terry Neuville

'68

Chevy

Camaro

37.803

Jeff Schwart

'65

Pontiac

Tempest

38.519

Herb Lumpp

'66

Chevy

Chevelle

38.656

John Kundrat

'64

Chevy

Corvette

38.868

Karen Leisinger

'70

Chevy

Camaro

39.084

Curt Ukasik

'62

Chevy

Nova

39.140

Brad Granger

'67

Chevy

Camaro

39.208

Steve Merryman

'66

Chevy

Chevelle

39.291

Jeff Peoples

'72

Buick

GS

39.692

Rob Machado

'67

Chevy

Corvette

39.759

Ray Thompson

'68

Chevy

Camaro

39.767

Marshall Macharo

'67

Chevy

Corvette

39.947

Kevin Poe

'65

Chevy

Corvair

40.384

Tim Strange

'68

Chevy

Camaro

40.366

Grant Hukle

'66

Chevy

Shelby

40.424

Don Montgomery

'69

Plymouth

Valiant

40.508

Mike King

'72

Chevy

Camaro

40.600

Jenner Turner

'70

Chevy

Nova

40.709

Dan Ballard

'72

Chevy

Nova

40.940

Robert McGaffin

'65

Olds

Cutlass

41.167

Mark Strong

'68

Ford

Mustang

41.241

Jason Chinn

'72

Chevy

Camaro

41.363

Kyle Hector

'69

Chevy

Camaro

41.506

Randy Ivy

'66

Shelby

Cobra

41.626

Skip Walls

'69

Chevy

Camaro

41.633

Ronnie Walker

'68

Chevy

Camaro

41.677

Kevin Tetz

'66

Ford

Mustang

42.293

Shane Davenport

'66

Chevy

Nova

42.314

Jon Bridges

'66

Ford

Mustang

43.004

Lloyd Gaskins

'57

Chevy

43.398

Terri Neuville

'68

Chevy

Camaro

43.812

Michelle Harvey

'68

Chevy

Camaro

43.959

Bobby Goodletsville

'72

Datsun

510

44.365

Jimmy Shaw

'67

Chevy

Nova

43.142

Alan Hutcheson

'61

Ford

Starliner

45.362

Malcolm McMullan

'67

Chevy

Chevelle

45.911

Chris Harvey

'64

Chevy

Wagon

46.101

Jack Ashby

'67

Pontiac

LeMans

46.433

Mark Tucker

'67

Chevy

Camaro

46.464

Todd Stansberry

'67

Chevy

Camaro

46.972

Willie Maise

'68

Chevy

Chevelle

47.761

Greg Griggs

'65

Chevy

Nova

50.201

Jason Gaskins

'72

VW

Bug

51.221

Corey Williams

'72

Chevy

Camaro

54.643

15/18Our faith in Fords was further bolstered in Nashville by Mark Strong’s 1968 Mustang coupe, looking eerily like Christopher Campbell’s similar machine. Strong calls on suspension parts from Global West to get him turned, while go-power comes from a stock 302, and braking via SSBC discs.